Editorial: Ignorance drives frustration in students

If it takes a village to raise a child, some of the villagers have been lying down on the job in Opelousas.

Early on the morning of Sept. 23, police were called to Opelousas High School when a series of brawls broke out in the hallways. Investigators said two rival gangs apparently had been trading insults over the Internet and brought their hostilities to school.

Eighteen students were taken into custody. Of those, 13 were held. Six, all 17 or older, received jail sentences Wednesday.

In this case, each individual part of the system seems to have worked:

? School officials called police as soon as the violence started. Opelousas officers arrived and had the situation in hand rapidly.

? Following the incident, St. Landry Parish School Superintendent Edward Brown arranged for a police officer to be posted at the school daily.

? Opelousas City Judge Vanessa Harris handed out 30-day sentences to the six students, all of whom are legal adults, 17 or older.

? Harris also admonished the youths that, "you all need to understand that you go to school to learn, not to act like wild animals."

"You go to school to get an education, not to be gang bangers or thugs. If you're going to be a thug, you have two options: You're going to an early grave or you're going to be in and out of a penitentiary for the rest of your life."

So, who is at fault?

"What" might be a better question, and the answer is ignorance. Park Vista Elementary Principal Ulysse Joubert, whose school has consistently been one of the best in the city, believes that. Joubert's school recently took in a host of students from the now-closed Creswell Elementary, the worst.

Those students are handicapped, not by a lack of intelligence, but by lacking the necessary tools to keep up with their peers, said Joubert.

As a result, he said, they become frustrated in class and frustration leads to misbehavior and disruption. That tendency toward disruption can grow from creating a disturbance in a classroom to throwing a sweatshirt over some other student's head and pounding them into submission, as occured at Opelousas High School Sept. 23.

Now, those involved in the brawls have been offered a chance to graduate.

Supervisor of child welfare and attendance Jerome Robinson said all those students involved will be recommended for explusion. Those students who enroll in the alternative program will not walk at a graduation ceremony, but will have the opportunity to earn their high school diploma.

The rest of us can only hope they take advantage of that opportunity.

Their handicap is universal and timeless. Charles Dickens wrote of it in London 170 years ago.

In his classic, "A Christmas Carol," two urchins cling to the legs of the spirit of Christmas Present and the spirit explains their significance to Ebenezer Scrooge.

"This boy is Ignorance," says the spirit. "This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased."

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Editorial: Ignorance drives frustration in students

If it takes a village to raise a child, some of the villagers have been lying down on the job in Opelousas.

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